OTTAWA - Cancer and heart disease caused more than half of Canada's 235,217 deaths in 2007.
They are far and away the two leading causes of death among Canadians.
Statistics Canada reports cancer accounted for 30 per cent of deaths and heart disease 22 per cent.
The third-most common cause of death, stroke, accounted for six per cent.
The agency says the proportion of deaths from cancer was up slightly from 2000, while the proportion from both heart disease and stroke declined.
The other seven leading causes of death, in order, were chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease and suicide.
These 10 leading causes accounted for 77 per cent of all deaths in 2007, down from 80 per cent in 2000. The list has been identical since 2000, but the ranking has changed slightly.
In 2000, suicide and kidney disease were ninth and tenth, respectively. By 2007, they had switched places.
?? The Canadian Press, 2010